A Response to Sarah Palin's "Death Panel" Comment from a Parent of a Child with Special Needs

Sarah Palin, you are not my advocate. You do not speak for me. You do not speak for my child.

You do not speak for the many good friends of mine who have children with chronic medical issues far more severe than my own son's neurological disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder. You do not speak for all parents of children with Down Syndrome. You do not speak for the member of my extended family who has Down Syndrome.

What you said on your Facebook page, about mythical Obama "death panels"?

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.  -Sarah Palin

If enough people believe it — if enough people are scared by it into opposing any kind of health insurance reform — that politically motivated statement deliberately promoting a dangerous rumor that has been proven to be patently false could cause tens of thousands of children with special needs in the United States to continue to suffer without adequate health care for years to come.

In the United States, children with chronic health issues are often denied coverage by private health insurance companies that consider their health concerns to be a pre-existing condition. Some of those children denied coverage under private health insurance are, thankfully, able to qualify for public health insurance through Medicaid or SCHIP — two of our country's existing socialized medical insurance programs — but some are not. And those children who do have private insurance coverage are often forced to pay high co-pays for routine procedures, and are frequently denied authorization for recommended medical care.

Every day in the United States, children with autism or cerebral palsy are denied occupational therapy. Children with juvenile diabetes are denied insulin pumps. Children with asthma are denied inhalers. American parents of children with chronic health conditions must fight a tangled bureaucratic health insurance system constantly to make sure that their kids can get access to the care recommended by their doctors.

And that's why the National Down Syndrome Congress supports health insurance reform. That's why the Autism Society of America supports health insurance reform. That's why Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, the American Diabetes Association, and the March of Dimes all support health care insurance reform. Because all of these organizations are advocates for children with special needs.

That's why I support health reform. Because I am a parent of a child with special needs. Because I've spent hours and hours of my life tangled up in the red tape that stands between my son and his needed health care, desperately fighting against enormous for-profit corporations who see my beautiful, beloved child not as a person who needs help but as a profit loss.

I support health insurance reform because I want exceptional children like my son — children like your son, Trig — to get the best of care. And under our current broken health care system, far too many do not.

Comments

[Redneck Mommy]

As a Canadian, and the mother to two highly medically fragile children, I weep at the thought of what families with children with disabilities are put through in America in order to help their children.

It's not so simple as moving to Canada, where even with a medical system I respect has it's flaws, but if I could, I'd move each and every one of you to my country where this type of profit loss marginalization doesn't exist.

I sincerely hope America gets the health care system it deserves. One that serves anyone who needs it and not just the healthy people.

[Daisy]

Well said. My son (blind, Asperger's Syndrome) will soon become an adult. He is not ready to take on full time employment or full time college enrollment. How can we keep him covered? I support President Obama's health care initiatives, also supported by my rep in Congress, Steve Kagen, MD.

[Jennifer]

I participated in a walk for JDRF last weekend. As I gazed upon the tens of hundreds of people there, who were there on behalf of CHILDREN with a chronic health condition, I thought to myself that there was not a better argument for both stem cell research and health care reform.
Thank you for this. The more facts we can gather and spread, the weaker we make the opposition. I'll be posting this ob\n facebook and twitter and linking to it on my blog.

[ladykay]

Redneck Mommy, have you checked into applying for disability for your son, either Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)? You can get info at www.ssa.gov. Even if he is not eligible as a minor, due to parental income, that should not be an issue once he is 18, when his eligibility will be judged on his own income and assets.

The programs have different requirements and depending on the situation, he might be eligible for one or the other. If he were found to be eligible for SSI he would receive Medicaid. With SSDI he would not, but after two years he would receive Medicare.

If you do apply, please be patient, it is a long process. It is likely that he will be denied the first time, most people are, just appeal and keep appealing. It is likely that your son would be approved down the road. (Personally, I believe the high rate of initial denials is just a culling process, those who don't have the perserverance to appeal are knocked out of the game.)

I support health care reform and hope that something gets fixed soon, but this might be a way to get your son medical coverage in the meantime and possibly income assistance too.

[ladykay]

Another thing, I have heard of some insurance policies that will allow you to keep an adult child on your policy, if he is legally your dependent due to disability. Might be something to check into.

On the other hand, assuming that once your son turns 18 that he is NOT legally your dependent, he will need to approve Social Securiy discussing his case with you if you are assisting him. This is how we worked it with my son, who is now 25, as he is unable to naviagate it himself.

Also, with either SSI or SSDI, he can work part-time, as long as he doesn't make over a certain amount.

[Melissa]

Sarah Palin belongs to Michelle Malkin and the party that would smear and ridicule a 12-year-old boy (Graeme Frost) who almost died of traumatic brain injuries following a 2004 car accident.

Their crimes? They own their own home and send their kids to a private school on scholarship. Oh, and *before* the kids where born, the parents' marriage announcement was in the NY Times.

You can read all about the utterly disgraceful tactics here: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1670210,00.html

[Christina]

Here in Ohio, it's completely legal for a health insurance company to deny any claim that could be related to a child's autism. You'd be amazed how many different types of diseases and conditions they can blame on your child's autism diagnosis, thereby effectively denying the child any health insurance.

I'm in an unfortunate situation at the moment. We spent the last year without health insurance due to my husband being unemployed. Since we were scraping by on unemployment, our daughters were covered by Medicaid. (We made too much for my husband and I to be covered.) My oldest daughter is on the autism spectrum. Medicaid is the one insurance that covers autism, and the state recently lost a court battle when they tried to remove autism coverage from Medicaid. Any recommended treatments for my daughter's condition are covered under Medicaid.

But I started my new job as a nurse two weeks ago, meaning we now have employer-related health insurance for the entire family and now make too much for Medicaid for the girls. But hey, we all have insurance - yay, right? However, I'm now paying $260 a month for our health insurance premiums, and now my daughter has lost any coverage for treatments related to her autism.

According to the insurance company, autism is considered an "incurable and non-treatable" condition. How does that make sense? Better to pursue intense early interventions that result in a higher functioning person rather than doom a child to a future where they can't live on their own, possibly resulting in expensive group home living. Wouldn't the insurance company prefer a productive member of society?

So now we're forced to either cut back on any treatment for her, or pay out-of-pocket, the costs of which could easily eat up my entire salary. And we have to hope that any other medical need she has in the future can't be linked back to autism in any way, or it won't be covered. (And by "covered", I mean they'll pay 80% after her $500 deductible.)

We need reform now. Health care should never have been a for-profit industry in the first place.

[PunditMom/Joanne Bamberger]

Her statement is just another example of the fact that Palin isn't interested in any real way in leading the GOP on conservative issues. She only wants to become the next Michelle Malkin or Rush Limbaugh, trying to find an audience for inflammatory untruths that will lead her to fame and fortune.

I SOOooo look forward to the day when voters wise up. I hope I'll live that long.

[bus]

We know how we care our child .........
don't worry and i agree with Obama's health care plan.

[Erin S. Cochran]

I couldn't agree with you more. Thanks Jaelithe.

[Reality Rounds]

Very well said. Sarah Palin is an ignorant fear monger. Flippantly using words like "Death Panels" is nazi-esque propaganda. I doubt she gives two sh*ts about anyone else's child with a disability, or what kind of medical coverage they can receive. That would take all the attention away from her. I am a neonatal intensive care nurse, and I have seen families decimated by the costs of their babies hospitalizations. Something must be done.

[trisha]

Thank you for this. I wish more Mom's would band together and tell Palin what "real" mom's think about her lies.

Palin, again, uses her child for political gain. It's disgusting and Mom's everywhere need to say ENOUGH!

[T]

Of course the bill won't plainly say "every 5 years, we will counsel you to end your non-productive life for the benefit of the country". Politicians (every last putrid one of them, are liars and deceivers.

However, that end of life counseling, who will really be handling it? The doctor (or, practitioner whatever that is)? And, since the doctor is beholden to the government for getting paid, if the rationing panel decides a particular doctor is spending too much to keep useless old folks alive, maybe some pressure will be applied?? I believe so.

But there is the rub. Why can all politicians spew their crap about this bill? Cuz we gotta pass it NOW! Don't read the damn thing.. that doesn't matter. Just listen.. pass it now or evil insurance people will doom you forever. Block it now or the evil government will force suicide and abortion on you. Every last one of those 435 bastards is a lying scumbag. They will sell out every last time. So, let us read it and see what the heck it is about.

[Jaelithe]

T, the AARP recommended and supports the portion of the legislation that allows funding for discussing the creation of a living will. The AARP. The American Association of Retired People. They support health reform, and they support legislation that would make insurance companies cover terminally ill patients' discussions with their doctors (or NURSE practitioners -- they exist -- look them up) about creating a living will.

Look:

http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/

http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/health/divided_we_fail_platform_longterm_care.html

Do you seriously think the AARP wants to kill old people? Seriously?

No one is stopping you from reading the bill. It's available on the internet. I highly, highly, highly recommend you DO read it. Study it. Study which groups support it. Get all the facts before you start buying into rumors.

[Limo Hire]

Great read!

[Timotheus]

A recent Rasmussen poll showed that 94% of the women who hated Sarah Palin are facially disfigured, tattooed, wide caboosed, single mom's with mild to heavy pill addictions.

I disagree...I think it's closer to 98%.

[FAP Turbo]

How will Obamacare's Death Panel work out the ethics issues associated with killing poor but treating the rich?

[limo hire]

sarah palin needs to realise she does not live in the real world.

[mbt shoes discount]

I must confess to being really disappointed with the flag submissions. Some of the photographs are great, but I was hoping this project would raise some interesting questions

[FAP Turbo]

Thank you for this emotional post. It's good to hear that Palin's pandering for some sort of sympathy vote is lost on those who actually have brain.

[Brisbane Limo's Hire]

I think Donald Trump will have the edge.